Maintenance of the Quality of Coffee (

The preservation of sensory properties of coffee depends on the quality of the beans, storage conditions, and packaging characteristics. Currently, there is a wide range of packages that preserve bean quality during the postthreshing stages. This research determined the effects of different packaging types and storage conditions on the physical and sensory qualities of green coffee stored for 365 days. Eight packaging materials, consisting of the natural fiber-based materials fique (FN) and paper (P-Mc) and the polyethylene (PE)- and polypropylene (PP)-based materials PE-Max, PE-double, PE-Multi, PP-PVC, PE-EVOH, and PE-PAV, were evaluated in four locations: Manizales (Alto de Letras), Santa Marta, Chinchiná, and a cold room. The temperature and relative humidity in Alto de Letras were constant during the evaluation period, and the sensory quality expressed as the total score SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) was preserved for 365 days in the PE-EVOH, PE-PAV, PE-double, and PP-PVC packages but not in FN. In a broad sense, the SCA score was significantly affected at different storage times, regardless of the kind of packaging for the other locations. In Santa Marta, which is characterized by higher temperature and relative humidity, the SCA score of the samples was affected after 60 days, while in the cold room, the score was affected at 240 days. In Chinchiná, the SCA score decreased throughout the storage time. The environmental storage conditions affected the ability of the different kinds of packaging to preserve coffee quality. Our findings show a new alternative to maintain coffee quality from the farm and during its commercialization chain.